La Salle Academy students get ready to live below the line

La Salle Academy’s annual Live Below the Line challenge has had a successful launch, with students already raising more than $2500 – and they don’t officially start the challenge until Monday.

The challenge lasts for five days, Monday to Friday from May 21, and for each of those days the students must only survive on food that costs less than $2 a day.

So what do you live on?

“Lots of water,” they reply.

Rice, pasta and potatoes are likely to make up the bulk of the food, with sauce and small portions of stock suggested as ways to make it tastier. This year Oaktree Foundation’s Live Below the Line Challenge will supports students in Cambodia and Timor Leste to buy uniforms, books, attend school and teacher training.

In 2017, La Salle student Brielle Mendham raised the most of any individual student in Australia, totalling $2500.

She said her successful strategy in 2017 included giving people concrete information on what their money would go to.

$35 will purchase text books for 12 students a year

$52 will fund a student scholarship

$100 will buy uniforms and class supplies for three years

$500 will pay for two students to study to become teachers.

“I also posted each day about my rations,” Brielle said.

Brielle and fellow student Edwina Ruse are both Oaktree ambassadors, training in skills and teamwork every couple of months.

They are the organisers of the school’s Live Below the Line push in 2018, originally setting a $1500 fundraising goal. Due to their early success, they have pushed it up to $3500.